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How to recondition, refurbish and oil an old Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. Includes links to date your wheel and troubleshooting tips.

Elena and me at the first Farmers' Market of the season - thanks to Elena for bringing the baker's boards to put our wheels on. Blogged.

There are ma lot of different types of spinning wheels out there. In this post, I'm telling you all about the main types that can be found.

The King & Queen Bees are foldable travel wheels. Spin any weight of yarn from fine to bulky on multiple ratios. The built-in lazy kate holds 3 bobbins. Choose between a 4 oz setup (Queen), 8 oz setup (King) or a 16 oz setup (Worker). The bobbins cannot be interchanged between 4, 8 or 16 oz at this time. Although these wheels look alike and have many of the same features - there are some key differences to consider if you are choosing between the two. QUEEN BEE: Only uses 4 oz bobbins Has 13 unique speeds The highest speed is 1:30 KING BEE: Only uses 8 oz bobbins Has 10 unique speeds The highest speed is 1:15 WORKER BEE: Only uses 16 oz bobbins FEATURES: Spin Fine to Bulky Open Hook Orifice Magnetic Bobbins Easy Uptake Tension Knob Easy Drive Band Change Quiet Operation Ergonomic Design Small Footprint Stationary Floor Grips Heavy Duty Construction Warp Resistant Wood Made in the USA SPECIFICATIONS Weight: 13-14 pounds Open Dimensions: Height: 30" Width: 19" Depth: 13" Folded Dimensions: Height 12" Width: 19" Depth: 9" SPEEDS AND RATIOS: King Bee Speeds (Ratios): 10 (1:2.5, 1:3, 1:3.5, 1:4.5, 1:6, 1:7, 1:8, 1:10, 1:13, 1:15) Queen Bee Speeds (Ratios): 13 (1:2.5, 1:3.5, 1:4.5, 1:5.5, 1:6, 1:7.5, 1:8.5, 1:10, 1:13, 1:14, 1:17, 1:18, 1:30) Worker Bee : (Ratios): Sorted by Location on Wheel: L1 + R1 + H1 1:5.5 Bulky L1 + R1 + H2 1:9 Medium L1 + R1 + H3 1:12.5 Fine L1 + R2 + H1 Fine L1 + R2 + H2 Fine L1 + R2 + H3 X-Fine L2 + R1 + H1 1:4 Bulky L2 + R1 + H2 1:6.5 Medium L2 + R1 + H3 1:9 Medium Sorted by Slow to Fast Speed: L2 + R1 + H1 1:4 Bulky L1 + R1 + H1 1:5.5 Bulky L2 + R1 + H2 1:6.5 Medium L1 + R1 + H2 1:9 Medium L2 + R1 + H3 1:9 Medium L1 + R2 + H1 1:12 Fine L1 + R1 + H3 Fine L1 + R2 + H2 Fine L1 + R2 + H3 X-Fine Abbreviation Guide L = Lower Left (2 total - L1 & L2) R = Lower Right (2 total - R1 & R2) H = Head Whorl (3 total - H1, H2, H3) 1 is largest, 2 is smaller, 3 is smallest Just like ratios, the smaller the whorl the larger the number SHIPPING: Domestic Shipping timelines are about 4-6 weeks ** If your order includes a spinning wheel, shipping is FREE to the lower 48 states, ALASKA AND HAWAII: Bee (King or Queen)= $60.00 I ship worldwide, please contact me for shipping prices outside the USA. I OFFER A CONVENIENT LAYAWAY PROGRAM If your order is only replacement parts, upgrades, and/or accessories - shipping to the lower 48 states is a flat rate of $15.00 regardless of quantity. The lighting for the photos makes the colors a little brighter than they do in person, so expect the colors one or two shades darker.

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How to recondition, refurbish and oil an old Ashford Traditional spinning wheel. Includes links to date your wheel and troubleshooting tips.

Well, okay. Did I need another wheel? Hmm, probably not. But I didn’t have a bulky spinner. And I was trolling around on Craigslist and somehow got out around British Columbia, where bulky sp…

In their 1982 survey of Wisconsin spinning wheel makers, Victor and Patricia Hilts stated that "Mayville was the only place in Wisconsin where spinning wheels were manufactured almost continuously from the Civil War until the beginning of the twentieth century." ("Not For Pioneers Only: The Story of Wisconsin's Spinning Wheels" Wisconsin Magazine of History 66:1 (1982), available online: content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wmh,47529) One Mayville man, Frank Fell, was responsible for carrying Mayville's history of spinning wheel manufacture into the 1930s. In 1884, Fell began working for the Mayville Furniture Company, which manufactured spinning wheels for sale both locally and to a broader market. When the manufactory closed in 1904, Fell purchased its lathe and opened his own woodturning shop in his Mayville home. He sold an average of 300 traditonal German-style wheels each year until his death in 1935. This object is the property of the Mayville Historical Society. The image is part of the Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database, a digital archive of Wisconsin objects. For more information, see content.wisconsinhistory.org/u?/wda,2103

Ca.1915-23. For more on the photographer T. ENAMI see : www.t-enami.org/ For the MOTHER LODE of T. Enami photographs here on the Web --- all CC rated for your creative use --- see this Flickr collection : www.flickr.com/photos/24443965@N08/collections/7215761388... RANDOM SOBA : www.flickriver.com/photos/24443965@N08/random/

So congested and still waiting for Claritin to kick in, I'm simply posting pics today. My head is so full of cobwebs I can barely type a coherent sentence even...but like I'll let it stop me, right? Anyway, I got myself pretty busy with my needles the last few days after boxing up the drumcarder for another day. I finally finished my Darkside Cowl and I'm pretty happy with it. I can't wait to get another one cast on soon! I really like this cowl. It's very simple yet classy and it being handspun makes it even more special. Like my 4 year old-nephew and ringbearer-at-my-wedding would say, "Super Special!!!" This one was inspired by Jane Bennet, the ever-sweet sister of Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. It's a cowl adapted from the Feather and Fan pattern and handspun from a merino/bamboo blend. Feather and Fan is pretty easy and it's one of the first lace patterns I ever tried out after branching out from the usual knit and purl stitches. I don't remember how much yarn this cowl requires since it's spun from my own handspun and I forgot to measure the yardage as well (bad knitter!). But since you're going to knit in multiples of 18, depending on your yarn weight, yardage ang gauge, it should work with just about any yarn :) To make this cowl, cast on multiples of 18 (the cowl was 90) and join to form a circle. Place marker and knit 2 rows. For the third row: (K2tog)3X, *(YO, K1)6X, (K2tog)6X, rep * till you reach the last 6 stitches, then (K2tog)3X. Next row(4th row): Purl all stitches. Knit the following rows till you reach your desired length and then end with Row 4. Bind off loosely.

The shawl is an Irish fashion statement of old, worn through the centuries, created out of necessity, and wrapped around shoulders with pride in the face of dire poverty.

We give you here the free plan of an authentic functional castle spinning wheel, a convenient tool to start spinning yarn.

First, I must apologize for my absence but a pinched nerve in my right arm prevented me from typing, working on the computer, or doing just about anything. It is on the mend, however, so I take up …

here is the finished spinning wheel that my Dad made me. and it does work. very cool.

A Fred Blystone Pic taken at Colonial Williamsburg Please understand that I am in no way claiming to be any sort of an expert in the textile arts, and what you are about to read is not meant as a tutorial. This posting, though informational about the crafts involved, is mainly meant to show how spinning and weaving and all that goes with it was a part of family life as well as community life of the 18th century. If you are an accomplished spinner or weaver, this post should still hold an interest, for it actually centers toward the reader who has an interest in the average daily occurrences of 18th century citizens, and thus, will hopefully help to give an idea of more of what went on inside many colonial homes. Thus, as mentioned, it is not a "how-to" guide, but a "how they did it" informational, for it was a process every man, woman, and child would be quite aware of, even if they didn't necessarily do it themselves. Now...what am I doing writing about spinning wheels and such? For the reasons mentioned as well as because I find it interesting; I enjoy watching my wife, Patty, spin at her wheel. It's as relaxing for me to watch her work such a craft as it is for her to do it. And because I am the one who coerced my constantly crocheting wife to take up the spinning hobby, something she spoke of often everytime we would see it done at museums, which she now loves doing herself (thank you very much! lol). I also personally own a Saxony wheel and two great wheels along with a clock reel. Much of what I have written in this week's post comes directly from those who were there; the men & women of the 18th century who were involved in the textile crafts/trade of the period. It's their words that make up the most interesting part (to me) of the text. The rest came from a variety of other sources, of which I have listed at the bottom. Throughout this post I have placed definitions of words for those of us who are novices, to help in the understanding the entries in the journals and diaries. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I do appreciate it. ............................................. ~Included in this posting are photographs I've taken upon visiting the 1700s Daggett breakback (saltbox) farmhouse and the Weaving Shop - both located inside Greenfield Village - as well as a couple from my own non-historic pseudo colonial-style home. Also, most notes and explanations here come from the published works of a few historical researchers, to help bring the entire process - and its time - vividly to life~ ............................................. A distaff~ Did you know that spinning on a spinning wheel has its own special day? Traditionally, the first Monday after January 6 - Epiphany (which is the day after 12th Night – the 5th of January), was called Plow Monday because it was the day when men returned to their plows, or daily work, following the Christmas Holiday. It was customary at this time for farm laborers to draw a plow through the village, soliciting money for a "plow light," which was kept burning in the parish church all year. Sometimes falling on the same day as Plow Monday was Distaff Day (January 7). This was when women were expected to return to their spinning following the Christmas tide. A distaff is the staff that women used for holding the flax or wool in spinning. Hence, the term "distaff" refers to women's work or the maternal side of the family. This ancient verse captures the spirit of both long-forgotten special January days: “Yule is come and Yule is gone and we have feasted well; so Jack must to his flail again and Jenny to her wheel.” And this is how we will begin today's post. Using the great wheel Regular readers of Passion for the Past know I love to write and study on everyday life of long ago, especially 18th and 19th century. That includes minor details or what some haughty historians may call unimportant history. To me, no history is unimportant, especially in the home life department. In fact, that's the area that interests me most. I've also learned that nothing is black and white; there are mostly gray areas. Never say never and never say always is a good lesson to know and accept - perhaps the most important of lessons - when studying and researching history. And that truism goes well with this posting on the textile arts and homelife. According to author Alice Morse Earle in her wonderful book, Home Life in Colonial Days, the wool industry easily furnished home occupation to an entire family. Often by the bright firelight in the early evening every member of the household might be seen at work on the various stages of wool manufacture or some of its necessary adjuncts, and varied and cheerful industrial sounds fill the room. The grandmother, at light and easy work, is carding the wool into fleecy rolls. The mother, stepping as lightly as one of her girls, spins the rolls into woolen yarn on the great wheel. The oldest daughter sits at the clock-reel, whose continuous buzz and occasional click mingles with the humming rise and fall of the wool-wheel, and the irritating scratch, scratch, scratch of the cards. A little girl at the small wheel is filling quills with woolen yarn for the loom, not a skilled work. The father is setting fresh teeth in a wool card, while the boys are whittling hand-reels and loom spools. So let's talk about the basics; we must understand that, for the most part, domestic textile production in the colonies, especially New England, centered on bed and table linen; linen for shirts, shifts, petticoats, aprons, and summer pantaloons; coarse woolens for work clothing for men and boys; and a variety of linen and woolen garments for infants and young children. During the American Revolutionary War, homespun textiles were associated with domestic necessity and patriotism, as the idea of American independence was merged with self-sufficiency, which was often expressed as a goal. Printed in the September 1, 1788 edition of the Hampshire Gazette from Northampton, Massachusetts, a farmer wrote of their self-sufficiency. In part, he stated: "nothing to wear, eat, or drink was ever purchased," and that they "never spent more than ten dollars a year, which was for salt, nails, and the like." He wrote that when his first daughter was to be married, she had been "a working, dutiful girl, and therefore I fitted her out well and to her mind; for I told her to take of the best of my wool and flax, and to spin herself some gowns, (petti)coats, stockings, and shifts; nay I suffered her to buy some cotton, and make into sheets, as I was determined to do well by her." Daily life. You see, most people today are generally aware of what occurs inside the homes in which they live, whether the tasks or the chores are from fathers or mothers or children. Most will know the everyday routines of family members, from housework to relaxation time. It wasn't any different in generations past. In fact, I believe most people might be somewhat surprised to learn just how closely the families and friends during colonial and early Republic times worked together, showing just how much they needed each other to be successful in survival. What goes up must come down... And that is something I enjoy reading about - the 18th century friends & family working together in the home, including on the textile arts. Just as I have an interest in historic farming, for my ties to the agricultural past and all that goes with it run deep and strong and is centuries long, I've also had a fascination in the textile process of generations past. Going back into the 18th century, my 6th (and possibly 5th) great grandfather on my mother's side was, by trade, a weaver, and he had a loom. My multiple generational maternal great grandmothers, many who were Quakers, spun on spinning wheels. I believe the interests and maybe even the talents of my ancestors have been passed down through time, and I feel I am at least one of the recipients. (You see, I am a firm believer in this sort of DNA being passed down from generation to generation...maybe skipping some descendants and 'landing' in others. In fact, my very first Passion for the Past post back in November 2007 is about this very subject.) I also frequently visit Greenfield Village and the 18th century Daggett House, and the presenters there do such a remarkable job showing the way these particular crafts took place inside the home. This is where the interest for my wife and I was initially piqued. It helps, too, that my wife also spins and dyes (again, due to some cajoling from yours truly, I might add). Now, if you are a personal friend of mine or are a follower of this Passion for the Past blog (thank you!), you will know that I frequently visit Greenfield Village and especially the 1750 Daggett House. The presenters there do such a remarkable job showing 18th century life and seemingly bring that period alive, so I have included in this posting numerous photographs I've taken upon my visits to that rural farm home, as well as diary & journal entries from varying folks from the period, including Samuel Daggett himself. Also included are notes and explanations from some of the published works of a few historical researchers to help bring the entire process - and its time - vividly to life as well. Anyhow, let's take a peek into the world of the 18th century home textiles and witness the process that our brilliant ancestors, along with their family and friends, helped each other by working together. Part of the following information comes directly from the 18th century (italicised): Sheep-Shearing: Each spring, farmers sheared their flocks: (John Wily wrote in 1765) "The proper time to shear your sheep is in the increase of the moon, in May; and, if you have the conveniency, make a pen near some water course or pond, and wash your sheep before you shear them: As soon as they are washed turn them into a small enclosure that has plenty of grass, and let them run on it two or three days, or until you see the fatty or oily substance shedding amongst the wool. Then is the proper time to shear them, for that is a great preservation to the wool." Sorting: Early American wool sorters separated each fleece into two or three grades. Well-sorted wool made it easier to produce strong yarn and evenly woven cloth. As John Wily wrote: "As there are different sorts of wool on sheep, the neck being the finest, the belly next, the shoulders and thighs the coarsest, it will be proper the person employed to shear the sheep should carefully roll up each fleece by itself, turning it inside out, beginning at the neck part, and leaving out the shanks; that the person employed to sort the wool may with the greater ease separate the fine from the coarse, and likewise that which is suitable to be combed for worsted from that which will answer for other uses. After your wool is well culled or sorted, the fine from the coarse, then have it well washed; for if you wash your wool before it is sorted, it afterwards will be very difficult to separate the fine from the coarse as it ought to be." Scouring: The sheep protects its fleece by generating a greasy substance called suint. Suint can account for over have of the weight of a newly shorn fleece. The worker removed the suint by immersing the fleece in a tub filled with a mixture of stale urine and warm water. He then rinsed the wool in fresh water and set it upon racks to dry. Scouring required skill and attention to detail. A weak or cold solution would felt the wool into lumps of tangled fibers. As you can see, the raw sheep wool my wife was preparing for spinning was spread out all over. Most of the dirtiest work/cleaning was done outside in the yard, but some was done inside, which definitely gave our home that barnyard-fresh smell! No, she does not wear period clothing when spinning at home...except on special occasions. Picking: Scoured wool retains dirt, dung, straw, and other impurities; picking removes them. According to William Partridge (in his 18th century memories), "Since my remembrance, picking was altogether performed by women, who beat it with rods, on hurdles made for the purpose, which separated the dust from the wool, and opened the locks, and they afterwards picked out by hand all the lints, straws, or whatever larger filth might adhere to it." After picking, the workers spread the wool in layers on a clean floor, and sprinkled each layer with oil in order to blend the fibers and make them pliable. Carding wool with carding paddles Carding: The purposes of carding are to blend, clean, and join the woolen fibers into a continuous mass which can be spun into yarn. In pre-industrial America, clothmakers carded by inserting portions of wool between two wire-studded boards and stroking them against each other. This action combed the wool, blended the fibers, and joined them into a continuous strand called a rolag. In this form, the wool could readily be spun into yarn. Carding was a monotonous and time-consuming task which required little strength or skill. Housewives often carded in their spare time or assigned the task to the children. Oftentimes, an elderly and feeble family member may also take on the job. Henry Wansey said in 1790. "Every housewife keeps a quantity of these cards by her to employ her family in the evenings when they have nothing to do out of doors." Spinning: Those who spun made yarn and thread by twisting the fibers of the prepared wool or flax into varying sizes to give that weak rolag strength as yarn. This was a task entrusted to the women and girls of early America. It's been noted that few farmhouses lacked a wheel. The large spinning wheels are known as the great wheel, the wool wheel, or the walking wheel. The Clock Reel: Used to measure the yarn. After spinning, the yarn was unwound from the wheel's spindle and wound on the clock reel (also known as a yarn winder) and measured for length. Clock reels employed a series of gears to trigger a noise making device when a certain amount of yarn had been wound. Skein: a length of yarn or thread wound on a clock reel. Spinning on a Saxony wheel... Spinning was a universal female occupation, a "domestic" duty, integrated into a complex system of neighborly exchange. Using the spinning wheel for spinning wool and flax has been seen as an essential expression of a woman's devotion to her home and family. It also shows self-sufficiency. The findings of Jane C. Nylander (author of the book "Our Own Snug Fireside") differ a bit from what others have said, for she writes that in the colonial period, perhaps half of all households owned spinning wheels (rather than a majority), and in some areas fewer than 10 percent owned looms, raised sheep, or cultivated flax. She has also stated that in many farmhouses there may only be a single great wheel on which the wool from a small flock of thin sheep was spun for stocking yarn. As I combed through numerous books and internet sites, there tends to be some disagreement on the information for who had and who did not have spinning wheels. For those who lived in the city, such as Boston, it seems that chances are they may not have had a need for a wheel and could purchase items from stores, whereas those who lived further from a big town or city may had been more likely to have a wheel in their home. Some of this is referenced in the account books of Samuel Daggett, builder and original owner of the 1750 Daggett farmhouse (now inside historic Greenfield Village). It seems as if this jack-of-all-trades farmer found spinning wheels to be omnipresent in people's lives in his own rural Connecticut community of Coventry. He was a housewright and woodworker (and farmer and dentist) and was called upon to repair many items belonging to his neighbors, including spinning wheels and spinning wheel parts. Here are a few entries taken from the account book of Samuel Daggett: November 9, 1757 ~14 yds. flannel cloth and half at 2 1/2 pr. Yard - to Beriah Loomis April 16, 1750 - making a woolen wheel for Rebeckah Gibbs A couple of wheels and a reel in need of repair in a 2nd floor room of Daggett's own house. January 18, 1760 and February 24, 1764 - mending a wheel for Ephram Shalfer's widow and Wid. Sarah Loomis. February 9, 1761 - spool and fliers to a wheel for Joseph Clark January 1766 - a pair of fliers to a little wheel for Joseph Clark Daggett wrote, in relation to the textile arts: ~setting a come (comb?) and setting a worsted comb for Jacob Lyman Also in the Daggett account book is of him selling flaxseed, probably to the local linseed oil mill (the Andover Society history says there was a local "oil mill"). Yes, there are plenty more entries of this type. I have a copy of his journal and these are but a few of what I found while quickly glancing through the pages. Mr. Daggett certainly knew how to earn a living. One of my great wheels is not pictured, though my Saxony is here, as is my clock reel. Before the textile industry of New England grew, for eventually the region was known for its textile mills, most was produced in the home. The production of fabric first required raw materials: fleece from sheep, flax, cotton, or silk. Cotton was not to reign as king until the 19th century, and silk was not very successful and its cost was relatively high. But wool and flax were inexpensive local products. Men & boys also had a share in the textile and spinning process. According to "Our Own Snug Fireside," their jobs consisted of: ~tending sheep ~shearing sheep ~combing wool ~breaking, scutching, and hackling flax and hemp ~learning the rudiments of sewing and mending Women & girls, for their part, would: ~grow flax and hemp and harvest when it was ready ~spin fibers into yarn or thread ~may do some home weaving ~dye the yarn or thread using natural dyes and techniques ~sew and knit ~mend & repaired textile items Process chart for spinning wool. Spinning (and weaving) required nimble fingers, quite difficult in the wintertime in a room with no fire. Julia Smith from Connecticut, faced with a quantity of wool to spin on such a day, made a fire in the small room in which to spin and asked to have her great wheel moved into the warming space. Hired girls carried much of the responsibility for spinning. From Sarah Emery: "Aunt kept a hired girl through the year. In the summer she helped in the dairy and housework, but her chief employment was spinning." In February of 1780, Mrs. Ebenezer Parkman hired two women for one week to spin. Sarah Bryant usually warped and set the looms, but the hired girls did all of the spinning and much of the routine weaving. Here is a video I filmed at the 18th century Daggett Farmhouse inside Greenfield Village on spinning by way of the great wheel: From the diary of ten-year-old Anna Green Winslow, from Boston: Valentine Day 1772 My cousin Sally reeled off a 10 knot skane of yarn today. My valentine was an old country plow-joger. The yarn was of my spinning. Aunt says it will do for filling. Aunt also says niece is a whimsical child. February 18, 1772 Another ten knot skane of my yarn was reel'd off today. Aunt says it is very good. Now, I am not going to get too deep into the wool dyeing process, but I would like to show you some of the basics of the ancient technique. The pictures you see here are of the ladies of the Daggett House, for every November they will spend a weekend dyeing the wool they spin. The process actually starts about six weeks earlier when the presenters begin collecting nature to use as the dye. Searching for walnuts... In the photo below you can see, to the left, a portion of the exterior of the Daggett House, built by Samuel Daggett around 1750 and represented inside Greenfield Village from the 1760s. Most, but not all, of the pictures herein were taken inside this beautiful example of a breakback/saltbox house. I followed this historical interpreter around for a bit as we spoke of the different naturals dyes available all around us and the colors they could make. On this day she was collecting walnuts for a deep brown. There was a squirrel up in one of the trees who wasn't very pleased, for it kept on tossing them down upon us, but luckily missing with each. I would hate to get knocked on the head by one of these buggers! For only being out for a short while, she didn't do too bad. Plants, roots, and nuts used to make dye The dyeing of wool is an annual presentation that Greenfield Village has every fall at the Daggett House. Even though my wife also dyes wool in the same manner, I still try not to miss it here. The presenters will walk the visitor through every step... Boiling water on a dry day works perfectly, for dyes can be quite messy. To make red, cochineal beetles are used (yes, beetles!). To think if someone wanted a bit of color on their cloth, this was to be done. And here is the indigo for blue (although, due to the clouds, it looks more black than deep blue). Click to see and hear the dyeing process from a Daggett presenter: In the basket you can see previously dyed wool - just see how vibrant the colors are. In all honesty, I have to laugh when I hear of people using Kool Aid or something along those lines to dye their wool. Especially if the wool was cleaned and carded by hand. Below you will see the types of natural dyes used for the wool and what the wool looks like: Blue: Before indigo became available in Europe in the late 16th century, woad was the primary source of blue dye. But indigo, due to its ability to produce an extensive range of beautiful blue shades, is considered to be the most the most successful dye plant ever known. Osage Orange: Osage orange is a native of the south-central US and is widely planted in the eastern states/colonies as well. Black Walnut: If you want a beautiful brown, look no further than your local neighbor's yard, or maybe even your own yard. Madder Root: Is one of the most ancient dyes and can be traced back to around 3000 BC., and comes from the madder plant. This is but a very few of the many natural dyes that were used by our 18th century ancestors. Here is their wool from 1765...I mean...hmmm... Just what year are we in? Yes, there I am, personally checking out just how wonderful the quality of the newly-dyed yarn was. The crafts and chores that our forefathers and mothers did back in the 18th century makes me appreciate them with each new bit of knowledge I gain about their lives. The knit hat I am wearing here was from raw wool. My wife went through the entire process, including dyeing the wool after she spun it. The mittens I have on were also from raw wool. Again, my wife knitted them for me after carding, spinning & dyeing them. Spinning could be done in any room of the house - the great hall, the kitchen, or sometimes it would be done in a separate room of the home. And with that we can now segue onto the spinning of flax: Process chart for spinning flax. "I seek wool and flax and can work willingly with my Hands, and tho my Household are not cloathed with fine linnen nor scarlet, they are cloathed with what is perhaps full as Honorary, the plain and decent manufactory of my own family, and tho I do not abound, I am not in want. I have neither poverty nor Riches but food which is convenient for me and a Heart to be thankfull and content that in such perilous times so large a share of the comforts of life are allotted to me." Abigail Adams in a letter to John April 17, 1777 Abigail Adams In her own write--- Flax: is a plant which is grown for its fibers, which are used to make linen. Martha Ballard was a midwife who kept a daily diary of her life and the events that surrounded her from 1785 until shortly before her death in 1812. I took a few snippets from her daily diary notations that centered on the subject of flax. There were plenty more - plenty more - than what I have here. Some of the descriptions and explanations come from author Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who we can thank for putting together the diary into book form. August 3, 1786, Thursday the Girls Pulld Flax. August 4, 1786, Friday Clear & Hott. we pulld flax. May 26, 1787, Saturday Polly Bisbee here. I combd 7-1/2 lb of flax for myself & 1/2 for Cyrus. May 28, 1787, Monday we Boild a Linning warp, 55 Skeins. June 2, 1787, Saturday I quilld 7 Skeins of yarn. Wool preparation for spinning is more commonly seen today, and more often than not, that's what we usually will see in the museums. So I thought I would present a quick - very quick - lesson on flax (from the pamphlet The Textile Tools of Colonial Homes By Marion & Walter Channing) - - Flax is grown in the garden. Men begin the flax-production system in the spring, as Matthew Patton, a New Hampshire farmer, did on May 18, 1787, when he reported in his diary: "I sowed about 1 of a bushel of flax seed and I suppose near as many pease." The very same day, 150 miles away in Hallowell, Maine, Martha Ballard's husband was engaged in similar work: "Clear...Mr. Ballard ploughed flax in," she wrote. Since the seed was light, it took skill to distribute it evenly and well. "I wed flax," Ballard wrote on June 16, 1788, a month after her husband completed sowing. Her patch of flax was an extension of her garden. Patton's crop was larger. With three quarters of a bushel he could have seeded half an acre. Just before it matures, it is pulled from the ground, roots and all. The harvest began the last week of July or the first week of August and lasted three or four days. "Finished pooling flax," Patton wrote. Ballard and her daughters usually did their own pulling, lifting the plants carefully by the roots, holding the stems as straight as possible to avoid tangling, then stacking them in neat bundles for later processing. Sometimes they were spreading cloth made from last year's crop on the grass to bleach while they were harvesting the new one. Growing flax and turning it into linen for clothes requires growing a variety suitable for fiber to spin. My wife and I pulled flax that was grown from seed. The seeds are removed once the plant is dried (called rippling). Roy holds flax before the spinning preparation begins. The plant is then submerged in water in order to rot the useless part of the plant. This is called retting. The flax is then spread on the grass (called dew retting). Once the plant is dry, the next step occurs, which is using the flax break: A flax break is used to start the process of separating the line fiber from the shives (or core and bark). A large bundle is centered at the hinge (or wider) end of the break; the upper meshes with the lower and comes down with a bang upon the flax which is struck as it gradually moves to the smaller end. One can see this would do a rather thorough job of breaking the useless part, which was often used to fill the straw tick of the trundle bed. Let's move on to the next step: scutching. After using the flax break, the remains are then scutched to remove more broken shives from the tough line fiber. A man or a bigger boy grasps a bunch of flax and holds it over the board and proceeds to beat it with a wooden scutching knife to remove still more of the useless part as well as make it finer. Tow - the fiber of flax prepared for spinning by scutching. Now it's time to use the hackle: "I am heshling flax." Molly Cooper November 15, 1769 "I have hatcheled 14 pounds flax from the swingle." Martha Ballard March 16, 1795 "I have been carding tow." Martha Ballard March 24, 1797 The hackle (or "heckle") is one scary looking but important tool, for hackling is the last of the three steps in preparing the flax fibers to be spun. It splits and straightens the flax fibers, as well as removes the fibrous core and impurities. Flax is pulled through the hackling spikes (also referred to as combs), which parts the locked fibers and straightens them, cleans them, and prepares them for spinning. In her book, Home Life in Colonial Days, written in 1898, Alice Morse Earle says that the fineness of fiber after hackling depended on the number of hackles used, the fineness of the combs, and the person doing the hackling. She writes that after the first coarse hackle, six other hackles were used, in varying degrees of fineness. If you have three hackles, coarse, medium, and fine, you will be doing well. The presenters at Greenfield Village do a wonderful job in their flax presentation. Before spinning, the flax needs to be "carded." No...no carding paddles are used. Instead, the flax is sort of fanned out on a table, a few pieces at a time, all laying out in the same direction, and making sure to remove any knots or small bunched up pieces. This is a fairly long and tedious process. "Carding" Flax Once it has been "finger carded" (as I call it), the flax is nearly ready to be spun - only one more step: getting it on the distaff. Begin by setting the distaff to one end... ...carefully wrap the flax onto the distaff by rolling it. Once it's on, it should be loosely tied, sometimes with a ribbon. The flax processing is done, the distaff replaced onto the spinning wheel, and now can be spun. In Brattleboro, Vermont, Mary Palmer Tyler, recalling to her children the memories of her early days of growing up in the 18th century, wrote: A wool wheel up front, and spinning flax in the back. It is almost like being in the company of Anna Daggett. She continued, "Our sheep furnished wool, and we raised flax. I spun all the thread I used for years, whitening some, and coloring some, and some keeping flax color. I hired a girl to spin what I wanted wove, and the tow also, with which we made cloth for sheets and common table linen. Mrs. Peck could weave very nice diaper, which we bleached at home. After she left us, Mrs. Fischer did my weaving, but having to give nine pence a yard for the weaving, I suggested to your father the expediency of getting a loom, and having our flax and wool wove in the house. Ever ready to comply with my wishes, he got one immediately, and for twelve or fifteen years we made the children's clothes summer and winter for common wear." "All this time my spinning wheels were busily attended by myself with the assistance of one and at times two girls." More excerpts from the diary of ten-year-old Anna Green Winslow, from Boston: February 9, 1772 ...my right hand is in bondage (wrapped), my left is free; & my aunt says, it will be a nice opportunity if I do but improve it, to perfect myself in learning to spin flax. I am pleased with the proposal & am at this present, exerting myself for this purpose. I hope, when two, or at most three months are past, to give you ocular demonstration of my proficiency in this art, as well as several others. February 22, 1772 I have spun 30 knots of linning yarn... Many farmers sold their flax and bought imported linen cloth. Linen production was highly skilled and time-consuming work. Here are two wonderful video clips on flax: Here is the second: The flax on the distaff. Now the flax is ready to be spun on the spinning wheel and then, perhaps, woven on a loom. On an interesting side note, through details of Colonel John Gage’s inventory from 1773 we can estimate the value of flax in various stages of production. A pound “from the break” was worth a quarter of a shilling, combed flax two, and a pound spun as “fine warp” almost eight shillings. This leads us into weaving: "Polle gon to carre yarne to the weaver." Molly Cooper April 29, 1773 Weaving looms, because of their size and bulkiness, were usually set up in a large, unfinished (usually unheated) space, like an attic, shed, or unoccupied bedchamber. Sometimes the loom may have been set up in a room called a "weaving room." Professional weavers set up looms in an "ell" room of the house or a small building near the house. Picture of a woman using a loom courtesy of Colonial Williamsburg Here are some basic terms for weaving on a loom, beginning with the loom itself: A loom is a hand-operated device used to weave cloth. The loom containing harnesses, lay, reed, shuttles, treadles, etc., in making the cloth. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same. Here are other words to know: Looms and Weavers: Each loom had at least two harnesses, through which the warp threads were passed. By stepping upon the treadles connected to the harnesses, the weaver lifted them up and down, creating a passage in the warp for the shuttle. The shuttle was thrown side to side by hand. After each passage of the shuttle, the weft (yarn) was driven into the cloth by means of the beater. Weaving: On the loom, the weave makes cloth by interlacing hundreds of feet of yarn in a grid-like pattern. Pieces of yarn stretched lengthwise on the loom, called the warp threads, are lifted in a pre-arranged order. The weaver passes a single strand of yarn, called the weft thread, through this arrangement of warp threads. The process is repeated thousands of times in order to weave a few yards of cloth. Warp - the long threads that run from the front to the back of the loom. This required skill and patience from the weaver. The warp thread is the thread that is strung over the loom vertically, and holds the tension while you weave. This is the backbone of your weave. Weft - is thread drawn through and inserted over-and-under the warp, side to side Diaper - a type of weaving design that was repeated continuously on the fabric Quilling: For weaving, quills are short tubes fashioned from hollow reeds and were used by the weaver's spouse or children to wind the wool yarn upon, then the weaver would insert the loaded quill in the shuttle - the boat-shaped vessel which carried wool through the openings in the warp. "The weaver is provided with a quill-girl, whose province is to prepare and supply him with thread or yarn, viz, the wool, which she winds up." (from Universal Magine - London 1749) Dressing the Cloth - The Fuller: Three skills were essential in dressing the cloth: the most important was fulling, whereby the cloth was cleansed to eliminate oils, dirt, and other impurities, and making it thicker. It was also shrunk and beaten in the process. The worker who does this job is a fuller, tucker, or walker, all of which have become common surnames. Next comes--- The Napper: After fulling, the nap of the cloth was raised by the napper to give it a lustrous appearance. He would use large burrs called teasels to raise the fibers of the cloth, thereby improving its "feel." The teasels pulled the fibers without breaking them. Napper were few and far between in America, according to the loom manual in the collections of The Henry Ford, and would often use wire-studded hand cards to nap the cloth, a practice which resulted in poorly finished woolens. Following the napper we next go to----- The Shearer: This was another skilled practice. It was the shearman who clipped the excess nap and imparted an even texture to the cloth. Years of practice were necessary to use the heavy and clumsy shear tool with skill. The craftsmen operated his shears, which weighed upward of 40 pounds, while holding them a fraction of an inch above the cloth. This distance had to be maintained for the cloth's texture to remain even. At times, lately around the Christmas tide, a replicated 18th century loom will be brought into the great hall of the colonial Daggett House as part of the Holiday Nights presentation. In honor of William Raby, my 6th great grandfather who was a weaver back in the 1700s (as I mentioned), I had my image taken in front of the loom sitting inside the great hall of the Daggett home. I like to think there might be some similarities between he and I---clothing, for one (lol). And since another line of my ancestors - for instance, my 5th great grandfather Jonathan Heacock - were Quakers, perhaps this picture might be suitable as well: That's me standing near the fly shuttle loom inside the Weaving Shop. Not unlike the Daggett household, the home of Martha Ballard was a nest of economic enterprise. Everyone worked. Martha Ballard's husband, Ephraim, surveyed, drew his maps, wrote his survey reports, met clients, collected taxes, farmed, and cut wood for the household. Martha grew and prepared herbs and simples, practiced midwifery, treated the ill, knitted, made and mended much of the family's clothing, and attended to her housework. The boys farmed, cut wood and timber, and helped at the mills. When the girls were old enough, Martha brought in a loom for weaving, and the family launched into textile production. Fly shuttle loom inside the Weaving Shop of Greenfield Village (From the book A Midwife's Tale): Weaving had evolved from a full-time men's occupation to part-time women's work. Not all women wove nor did all women spin. Instead, community networks of women bought and traded fibers, labor, skills, and finished goods to acquire cloth for their families' clothing. With this knowledge at hand, we see an economy characterized by family production; neighbor women taught the Ballard girls to weave, so Martha Ballard not only employed her daughters, Hannah and Dolly, and her nieces, Pamela and Parthenia, but a succession of hired helpers like Hannah Cool and Polly Savage. Women with looms borrowed and loaned equipment, such as the parts of looms called slays. In Martha's diary we see many such daily exchanges. She relied on married neighbors like Jane Welch or Hannah Hamlin to help her inexperienced girls warp the loom, the girls in turn weaving for other families in town. Though she grew her own flax, all the cotton she spun (and until 1790, the wool as well), was gotten in trade with neighbors. The production of cloth wove a social web. In Martha's diary we see many such daily exchanges. From Martha Ballard's Diary: May 19, 1787, Saturday Cyrus Brot the bars and other utencils for weaving home. May 21, 1787, Monday Evinng. mr Savage made the irons for our Loome. I paid him 4 Shillings in Cash. May 24, 1787, Thursday we warpt a webb of 42 yds Linnin. mr Ballard been fixing the loome. May 25, 1787, Friday Dorkis Pollard here to warp a piece. mr Ballard fixing the loom. Hannah Coll Sett the webb to work. To show how men and women of the household worked like a well-oiled machine, one only needs to understand the social web to keep everything running smoothly. Just like the men, New England women had long been engaged in barter and trade. The skein of linen warp that Martha gave Mrs. Savage on September 9, 1788 (see below) symbolizes the household production that characterized pre-industrial life, the neighborly trade that made such production possible: September 1788 3 - Mrs. Savage warpt a piece here. 5 - Dolly finisht her web 44 1/2 yards 9 - Mrs. Savage here. Shee has spun 40 double skeins for me since April 15th and had a Bushl of ashes & some phisic for James, and Dolly wove her 7 yds of Diaper. I let her have 1 skein of lining warp. The whole is 6/ X. 10 - We brewed. Dolly winding the warp for Check. 11 - Dolly warpt a piece for Mrs. Pollard of 39 yards. 12 - Dolly warpt & drawd in a piece for Check. Laid 45 yards. I have been at home knitting. 13 - We spread the diaper out for whitening. In Martha's vocabulary, a "web" was a quantity of thread woven--or about to be woven--in a single piece, such as what Dolly did on September 5, 1788. Most textile entries in the diary document a personal relationship as well as a process: "Polly (Savage) wound & warpt & I drawd in Mrs. Williams webb." "Hannah began to weave Cyrus' web." "Dolly finisht Mrs. Porters webb." "Mrs. Welch (or Hamlin or Child or Pollard or Densmore or Savage) here this day to warp a webb." The Daggett loom being used during Holiday Nights. (Again, from A Midwife's Tale): The image can be extended. Imagine a breadth of checkered linen of the sort Dolly "warpt & drawd in" on September 12, 1788, half the threads of bleached linen, the other half "coloured Blue." If Dolly alternated bands of dyed and undyed yarn on the warp in a regular pattern, white stripe following blue stripe, then filled in the weft in the same way, alternately spooling both bleached yarn and blue, the resulting pattern would be a checkerboard of three distinct hues. Where white thread crossed white thread, the squares would be uncolored, where blue crossed blue the squares would be a deep indigo, where white crossed blue or blue crossed white the results would be a lighter, mixed tone, the whole forming the familiar pattern of plain woven "check" even today. In my opinion, Greenfield Village should employ a period-dress weaver in the Daggett house more often. So much history "looms" in such a presentation. ~(pun kind of intended)~ From A Midwife's Tale: Training in the textile arts was communal and cumulative, work was cooperative, even though performed in private households, and the products remained in the local community. The most experienced weavers extended the skills of their neighbors. A closer look at textile production in the Ballard family helps us to see the complexity of this system. When Martha began to write a diary in 1785, Hannah and Dolly already knew how to operate the great woolen wheel and the smaller flax wheel that the family owned. The women in the Ballard household produced textiles during the years before the girls married, for all the women in the Ballard household spun and prepared yarn and thread for weaving. The girls also learned to weave. They grew and harvested flax. The family's sheep gave wool. In the next two years they produced hundreds of skeins of cotton, wool, linen, and tow thread, most of which their mother carried to others to weave. In May of 1787, the family began assembling the equipment needed for weaving. Cyrus brought home "the bars & other utensils for weaving" on May 19, 1787, and a few days later his father spent part of a day "fixing the loom." Martha did her part by combing flax, "doubling yarn for the harness," and "quilling," while her husband fetched a kettle from the Savage house for "boiling a linen warp." Dorcas Pollard warped the loom for the first time on May 25, and Hannah Cool "set the webb to work." These two young women helped to instruct Hannah Ballard, who was responsible for the web of forty yards that came out of the loom on July 4. On July 5, in preparation for the next round of weaving, Martha went to Mrs. Savage's to borrow a "sleigh" (an implement for controlling the pattern of a weave). Unfortunately, Mrs. Williams had already taken the one she wanted. Two weeks later she was successful in getting another from Merriam Pollard. Not the Ballard house but probably somewhat similar. From A Midwife's Tale: Weaving gave the girls a useful skill and also contributed to the household income. Martha did not weave, but the girls wove while Martha was off practicing her midwifery. Sometimes they bought cloth and thread, and they bought raw cotton by the pound. Although Hannah and Dolly learned to weave, check, diaper, huckaback, worsted, dimity, woolen "shurting," towels, blankets, "rag coverlids," and lawn handkerchiefs, as well as "plain cloth," the exchanges with neighbors continued. Merriam Pollard continued to "instruct Dolly about her weaving" until the girls were able to return some of her services in kind, as on September 11, 1788: "Dolly warpt a piece for Mrs. Pollard of 39 yards." Trading fiber and yarn, borrowing tools and kettles, the Ballards contributed to their own self-sufficiency and strengthened their bonds with their neighbors. The intricacy of the textile network is suggested in a diary entry for April 20, 1790: "Cyrus borrowed a 40 sleigh of the widdow Coburn for Dolly to weav a piece for Benjamin Porter." That father, mother, daughters, and at least one son were all involved in setting up the weaving operation supports what I have been saying for years - that in early America men & women had to work in tandem in order to undertake any single life-sustaining chore. In the Greenfield Village Weaving Shop, a presenter works a fly shuttle loom. By expanding textile production, Martha provided household help for herself and an occupation for her girls. She was not the sort of woman to turn her daughters into household drudges, even if she could afford to. Hannah and Dolly needed skills to sustain their future families as well as ways to contribute to their own support in the present. Weaving was the perfect solution. It could be accomplished at home. It could be coordinated with other chores. It produced many of the items ---bedsheets, ticking, blankets, towels, and coverlets--- the girls would need in their future homes. The Ballards had worked out an efficient system. Yet the beginnings of mechanization foretold changes. As we know, mechanization would eclipse household textile production within the next generation. 18th century textile production The film of A Midwife's Tale and chapter two of the book of the same name deal with textile production. When a family of the 18th century, such as the Daggetts and perhaps the Ballards, wove inside their own homes, they could then take their woven cloth to the local fulling mill, where it would be finished - that is, treated with a type of clay called fuller's earth to cleanse the fabric, eliminating oils, dirt, and other impurities, then flood it with hot water to shrink and thicken it. In his account book, Samuel Daggett mentions making repairs at a local fulling mill. There could possibly be bartering involved to pay the fuller: ~John Paine---work about his fulling mill ~a tree for a stock to his fulling mill ~mending of his mill stock and wheel Mr. Daggett also sold some of his flannel cloth, which could have been from his loom; the flannel referred to is probably a "fulled" wool (or "linsey-woolsey"): October 1756 ~17 yds. flannel to david Carber at 2 Shillings per yard Now, a wide variety of high quality and colorful English textiles were imported and available for purchase, particularly in the larger towns. Of course, a much higher proportion of imported textiles were used by people in the larger towns than in the rural farm communities, but in many cases people desired these over their own coarse homemade products if they chose to spend their money in that manner. Some managed to barter their own homemade textiles for imported cloth. (Source: The Great River) On a side note: in Samuel Daggett's will from 1799, he bequeathed "the loom" to his wife. It is assumed this was a large item for him to mention it here specifically. It is not known when it was acquired or used by the family, but he was selling flannel cloth, which was probably woven on the loom, by 1756, and, of course, mentioned from then on. . . . Women in the American Colonies played a critical role in boycotting the importation of British goods in protest of increased taxation on everyday items. From Laurel Thatcher Ulrich’s book, “The Age Of Homespun,” we learn the importance of their spinning shortly before the Revolutionary War: In the 1760s the effort to force the repeal of parliamentary taxes by boycotting English goods gave household production a new significance. In March, 1766, eighteen “daughters of liberty” met…to spin, dine without the pleasure of tear (this before the Boston Tea Party!) and declare as a body that the Stamp Act was unconstitutional, that they would purchase no more British manufacturers until it was repealed, and that they would spurn any suitor who refused to oppose it. Although Parliament repealed the Stamp Act, they replaced it with the odious Townsend Duties. Suddenly clergymen, militia captains, printers, politicians, and urban gentlewomen who had never before touched a spinning wheel took a new interest in household production. “Women determined the Condition of Men, by means of their spinning wheels.” Between March 1768 and October 1770, New England newspapers reported more than sixty spinning meetings held all along the coast from Maine to Long Island. Soon there were reports of large gatherings all along the coat of Massachusetts and into Rhode Island. One writer described the Daughters of Liberty “laudably employed in playing on a musical instrument called a spinning wheel, the melody of whose music, and the beauty of the prospect, transcending for delight, all the entertainment of my life.” A Rhode Island bachelor wrote that as soon as he found the swiftest spinner in the country he intended to marry her, “provided her other accomplishments be agreeable (provided likewise she will have me.)” Some of the gatherings were spinning matches, contests in which a few women spun a great deal of yarn. Others were spinning demonstrations, public events attracting large numbers of spectators. Most were what rural Americans would have called frolics, work parties to benefit a single household. And from American Spirit Magazine (Sept/Oct 2020): Patriotic fervor... Homespun textiles would become a necessity for Colonists on December 1, 1774, when the nonimportation agreement was signed into effect by the First Continental Congress. From that day on, the 13 Colonies would not import anything from Great Britain and would need to find a way to produce all the textiles they required. The task was daunting and became even more so when war was declared in 1775. Equipping an army with tents, blankets, and clothing seemed an impossible task at the time. After the war was won, textile trading and importation would resume. However, the homespun movement continued and homespun fabric would slowly decrease the reliance on imported textiles. A key moment in the history of the movement came on April 30 1789 at the swearing in of George Washington as the first President of the United States. Washington knew that wearing a suit made from imported fabric simply would not do. Instead, the soon-to-be first President chose a homespun, three-piece brown broadcloth suit made from fabric woven in Connecticut. . . . So, the colonial household was much more active than one would think. There was quite a bit of hustle and bustle occurring, and upon reading the diaries one can easily be drawn into their world. As I wrote in an earlier post, as soon as you start to think of the past as happening (as opposed to it having happened), a new way of conceiving history becomes possible. Our personal reactions to the challenges of living in another time - in this case, mid-to-late 18th century America - helps us to understand their time and even accept those from the past in a more enlightened way rather than with disdain, as seems to be so prominent in our modern times (because we in the 21st century are so enlightened!). It helps us to understand what makes one century different from another. Reading personal diaries and journals can make the difference. At least, it does for me. The day is done... And this is how we should respond to the past upon entering a historic house. Until next time, see you in time. ~ . ~ . ~ Postscript: Our granddaughter Addy checks out the great wheel. My wife has been crocheting pretty much her entire life. She is also a seamstress as well as a knitter - another craft she learned as a youth. And she has been spinning now for over a decade. The person that taught her was very surprised at how quickly she picked up on it. But everything yarn is in her blood. One of the things I think is very cool is that our children grew up with these ancient crafts, whether seen at Greenfield Village or at our own home. Yes, very similar to those whose diaries you just read. To think that my kids will one day tell their grandkids about their mother spinning on a spinning wheel makes me smile. But, even better yet, we now have grandchildren, and they will be able to tell their own grandkids about their grandmother spinning on a spinning wheel. How cool is that? Our grandson Liam also looks at one of our great wheels. And our grandson Ben helps out Nonna and is fascinated with her saxony spinning wheel. Young ladies in town, and those that live round, Let a friend at this season advise you: Since money's so scarce, and times growing worse, Strange things may soon hap and surprize you; First then, throw aside your high top knots of pride, Wear none but your own country linnen, Of Oeconomy boast, let your pride be the most To show clothes of your own make and spinning. What, if homespun they say is not quite so gay As brocades, yet be not in a passion, For when once it is known this is much wore in town, One and all will cry out, 'tis the fashion! And as one, all agree that you'll not married be To such as will wear London Fact'ry: But at first sight refuse, tell em such you do chuse As encourage our own Manufact'ry No more Ribbons wear, nor in rich dress appear, Love your country much better than fine things, Begin without passion, twill soon be the fashion To grace your smooth locks with a twine string, Throw aside your Bohea, and your green Hyson tea, And all things with a new fashion duty; Procure a good store of the choice Labradore, For there'll soon be enough here to suit ye; These do without fear and to all you'll appear Fair, charming, true, lovely and cleaver; Tho' the times remain darkish, young men may be sparkish And love you much stronger than ever. – "Young Ladies in Town," Boston Newsletter (1769) Sources: Everyday Life in Colonial America by Dale Taylor Our Own Snug Fireside by Jane C. Nylander A Midwife's Tale: The Life of Martha Ballard Based on her Diary by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich The Textile Tools of Colonial Homes by Marion L. Channing Home Life in Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle The Age of Homespun by Laurel Thatcher Ulrich helped with some of the flax planting and harvesting information. Quite a bit of information here comes from the collections of The Henry Ford and their wonderful Benson Ford Research Center, which is the brain center of The Henry Ford Museum and Historic Greenfield Village. Historical information about the Village and Museum - every historic house, artifact, daily life information, automobiles, and everything else history - is here. Its collections form an unparalleled resource opportunity documenting the American experience. Yes, I go here often. John Wily pamphlet "A Treatise on the Propagation of Sheep, the Manufacture of Wool, and the Cultivation and Manufacture of Flax, with Directions for making several Utensils for the Business" printed in Williamsburg, VA, in 1765. The on-line site of Mother Earth News Also, a number of my spinning and weaving friends contributed and gave their approval as well. And here are a few related postings that you might find interesting: In The Good Old Colony Days - Every day life in the 18th century Cooking on the Hearth: The Colonial Kitchen - Preparing, cooking, eating in colonial times Bringing Historic Homes to Life: Daggett Saltbox House - Life in a colonial home A Colonial Christmas - Just how did they celebrate Christmas in the 18th century? A Colonial Thanksgiving - From the Puritans through the end of the 18th century New Year's in the 18th Century - Celebrating an early American New Year's Travel and Taverns - To help you understand what it was like to travel and stay at a tavern in colonial times. Living By Candle Light: The Light at its Brightest - Nighttime in the 18th century A Year on a Colonial Farm - Chores and activities from all four seasons are covered Winter in the Good Old Colony Days - How was it for our colonial ancestors in the cold? Spring - Celebrating the season of re-birth Summer Colonial Harvest - The most important time of year for a colonist, the Fall ~ ~ ~

Have you ever wondered “What’s that sound and where is it coming from?” Learn what parts of a spinning wheel need lubrication for sound effect–free–spinning.

...obbin 6” wide, 8 3/4” deep, 7 1/2” tall (slightly taller w/ jumbo bobbin in) Minimum RPM clocks in right at 100, and I’ve measured it up to 2700 plugged into the wall, and 2200 off battery power. That makes it slightly lighter and smaller than the miniSpinner and fast, however I do have...

The Firefly is our electric spinning wheel. This wheel includes a rechargeable battery in the base that lasts 14 hours. This wheel is the equivalent to an electric MACH III. We combined our state-of-the-art engineering and design with the power of electricity to create this dynamic, multi-purpose spinning wheel. WHAT IS A MODULAR WHEEL? Our 8 oz, 16 oz, and 32 oz setup are interchangeable between the MACH III Base and the Firefly Base. Design your wheel by choosing your base and setup size, or swap setups between the bases for multiple wheel options. FEATURES: Spin Fine to Bulky Open Hook Orifice Magnetic Bobbins Easy Uptake Tension Knob Easy Drive Band Change Quiet Operation Ergonomic Design Small Footprint Stationary Floor Grips Heavy Duty Construction Warp Resistant Wood Made in the USA Modular Design Compatible with MACH III EXCLUSIVE FEATURES Built-in 12V rechargeable battery The fully charged battery lasts over 14 hours The battery is padded for whisper-quiet spinning Car adapter for charging or spinning on the go Foot pedal or Switch controlled Kickstand for use off the ground SPECIFICATIONS Weight: 13 pounds Height: 12 inches Speeds: Variable (0 to Way too fast) ;) SHIPPING: Domestic Shipping timelines are about 4-6 weeks ** If your order includes a spinning wheel, shipping is FREE to the lower 48 states. SHIPPING TO ALASKA AND HAWAII: 8 oz, 16 oz, 32 oz = $40.00 Firefly Base = $40.00 Package = $60.00 I ship worldwide, please contact me for shipping prices outside the USA. I OFFER A CONVENIENT LAYAWAY PROGRAM If your order is only replacement parts, upgrades, and/or accessories - shipping to the lower 48 states is a flat rate of $15.00 regardless of quantity.

The spinning wheel is an ancient invention that turns plant and animal fibers into thread or yarn, which are then woven into cloth on a loom.

Ashford Super Flyer Kit for Kiwi Spinning Wheel The Kiwi Super Flyer comes as a kit and is and super easy to install on any Kiwi. The kit includes everything from the maiden bar up, so you only need to undo one bolt when you want to swap. The Kiwi Super Flyer has a huge 27mm (1⅛") orifice and has awesome new free-flow yarn guides on a sliding hook flyer. (Note – the tutorial video states 25mm (1") this is incorrect, it is 27mm). The kit includes 3 super-size bobbins which have a 500gm capacity, so less time changing bobbins and more yarn on the bobbin. Also included is a lazy kate and a new drive belt. Finish is Natural or Lacquered. The new Kiwi Super Flyer will fit all Kiwi 3, 2 and Kiwi spinning wheels.

Ashford Freedom Flyer and Bobbin for Joy Spinning Wheel This fantastic new flyer gives you the freedom to spin your wild carder batts into fabulous, fun and funky art yarns on your Joy spinning wheel.With the enormous 25mm (1”) orifice and hooks you can spin and ply fibres, feathers, fabric, ribbons, cocoons and more. The open hooks make threading super fast and easy.  For Joy Spinning Wheel only

The design for these comes from an early Pennsylvania tape loom pictured in Pennington and Taylor's Spinning wheels and Accessories. The dif...

These are the common parts found on a traditional spinning wheel. The arrangement of these parts may vary from wheel to wheel. A. Fly Wheel – The wheel that rotates when treadling and causes the other various parts to operate. B. Drive Band – A cord that goes around the fly wheel and the flyer whorl. C. Flyer – A U-shaped piece of wood with hooks lined up on one or both arms. The hooks are used to store the yarn evenly on the bobbin. The flyer is rotated by the drive band which as a result puts the twist into the fiber. D. Flyer Whorl – A pulley attached to the flyer and operated by the drive band. The different sized grooves on the flyer whorl determine how fast the wheel will spin. E. Maidens – The upright posts that hold the flyer and the bobbin. F. Mother-Of-All – The bar that mounts the maidens, flyer, bobbin, and tension knob. G. Tension Knob – Used to adjust the tension of the drive band by lowering or raising the mother-of-all. H. Bobbin – Rotates on the spindle along with the flyer and stores the yarn. It can operate with or independent of the drive band. I. Treadle – The pedal(s) that operates the wheel by using your feet. J. Footman – The bar the connects the treadle to the fly wheel and causes it to turn. K. Orifice – The opening at the end of the spindle where the yarn goes through to connect to the hooks of the flyer.

The Firefly is our electric spinning wheel. This wheel includes a rechargeable battery in the base that lasts 14 hours. This wheel is the equivalent to an electric MACH III. We combined our state-of-the-art engineering and design with the power of electricity to create this dynamic, multi-purpose spinning wheel. WHAT IS A MODULAR WHEEL? Our 8 oz, 16 oz, and 32 oz setup are interchangeable between the MACH III Base and the Firefly Base. Design your wheel by choosing your base and setup size, or swap setups between the bases for multiple wheel options. FEATURES: Spin Fine to Bulky Open Hook Orifice Magnetic Bobbins Easy Uptake Tension Knob Easy Drive Band Change Quiet Operation Ergonomic Design Small Footprint Stationary Floor Grips Heavy Duty Construction Warp Resistant Wood Made in the USA Modular Design Compatible with MACH III EXCLUSIVE FEATURES Built-in 12V rechargeable battery The fully charged battery lasts over 14 hours The battery is padded for whisper-quiet spinning Car adapter for charging or spinning on the go Foot pedal or Switch controlled Kickstand for use off the ground SPECIFICATIONS Weight: 13 pounds Height: 12 inches Speeds: Variable (0 to Way too fast) ;) SHIPPING: Domestic Shipping timelines are about 4-6 weeks ** If your order includes a spinning wheel, shipping is FREE to the lower 48 states. SHIPPING TO ALASKA AND HAWAII: 8 oz, 16 oz, 32 oz = $40.00 Firefly Base = $40.00 Package = $60.00 I ship worldwide, please contact me for shipping prices outside the USA. I OFFER A CONVENIENT LAYAWAY PROGRAM If your order is only replacement parts, upgrades, and/or accessories - shipping to the lower 48 states is a flat rate of $15.00 regardless of quantity.

This blog post was first published on the 27th of November, 2018. As it is currently one of my most viewed posts, I will try to update it as the Electric Eel Wheel continues to evolve. --- If you are simply looking for a visual reference to work out which Electric Eel Wheel model you have purchased, I've made this short video showing the Electric Eel Wheel progression - Eight years ago I wrote a review of the Electric Eel Wheel 4. I loved that little wheel, but it did have quite a few issues - some I managed to overcome, but others I just endured. Despite its problems, I was so thankful for the invention of the Electric Eel Wheel 4, as it allowed me to try spinning on an electric spinning wheel for the first time, at a price that was low enough for me to take the risk. I thought it would be interesting to look back at the inception of the Electric Eel Wheel to see just how far it’s come from its humble beginnings, and to show a little of what the future holds for this little machine that’s taking on the big boys. The Electric Eel Wheel Maurice Ribble, the inventor of the Electric Eel Wheel, has been committed to designing and inventing an affordable, yet extremely usable electric spinning wheel, for several years now. He felt that spinners were being exploited, and that it was time to introduce a little competition to redress the balance. I first heard about the Electric Eel Wheel when I was searching online for an affordable e-spinner - I desperately wanted an electric spinning wheel as I had to stop using my beloved Ashford Traveller as treadling was damaging my hip joint. Unfortunately, when I first looked, every electric spinning wheel was prohibitively expensive, especially as there was no way for me to find out if I would even enjoy using an e-spinner before I bought it. Image from Glacial Wanderer, January 2009 I did, however, stumble upon Maurice Ribble's blog, where he talked about his experience designing an electric spinning wheel at a more affordable price. I love looking at these early images of the Electric Eel Wheel in its infancy. It shows just how far the Electric Eel Wheel has come in a little over a decade. The romantic in me also loves the fact that it was invented for his wife, Emily, to save her from lugging a full-sized spinning wheel around to spinning and knitting groups. Image from Glacial Wanderer, January 2009 I love how home-made and functional it looks in its wooden box, but still, Maurice realised that there was a demand for this slightly inelegant-looking e-spinner when many of Emily's friends started asking him to make one for them. At the same time, Maurice also generously ‘gave away’ his design as an open-source project, helping other spinning enthusiasts to build their own Electric Eel Wheels at an affordable price. By the next year, you could buy a kit to build your own spinning wheel in a box, and if you didn't have the technical know-how, you could buy an assembled version. Image from Glacial Wanderer, February 2010 You can see that the Electric Eel Wheel is gradually rising out of the box and it's started to become a little more compact. The Electric Eel Wheel 2 Later that year, Maurice made several improvements on his original design, improving the motor life and reducing the volume, increasing the bobbin capacity, and improving the assembly process, making it easier for people that bought it in kit form to make their own. This was the birth of the Electric Eel Wheel 2. Image from Glacial Wanderer, September 2010 It was now starting to look ever so slightly more commercial, with a custom, plastic controller box to protect the electronics. It was, however, still modestly hiding away in its box. The Electric Eel Wheel 3 By 2013, there was enough demand for the Electric Eel Wheel, (in what was still a very niche market,) that Maurice was able to redesign it, using laser-cut parts bought in bulk, making it cheaper to build and quicker to assemble. Image from Ponoko.com, September 2013 The Electric Eel Wheel 3 was a much more professional and commercial-looking machine and it had finally escaped out of the box! It was starting to look a little more like the later commercially available Electric Eel Wheels. Anecdotally, I know a lady that still owns this version of the Electric Eel Wheel and it spins just as well as any spinning wheel. She does find it quite noisy though. The volume of the Eel is one of the main problems that Maurice Ribble has had to try to overcome and is continually trying to improve. Keeping the cost down meant using a cheaper motor and light, thin veneered wood, which just aren't going to be as quiet and as stable as a heavy, solid hardwood electric spinning wheel, using a brushless motor. In 2013, an Electric Eel Wheel 3 sold for $290 and you could buy a self-assembly kit for $240. That's pretty incredible considering that it was difficult to buy any kind of decent e-spinner for less than $800 at the time. The Electric Eel Wheel 4 In March 2015, Maurice took the big step of launching the Electric Eel Wheel on Kickstarter, in the hope of funding the production of the 4th iteration of his little wheel. For the project to go ahead, he needed to raise $5,000. In the end, with the help of 245 backers, he managed to raise over 10 times that. Some of those original 245 backers (myself included) helped to form a community on Ravelry where they showed off their altered wheels, shared spinning tips, showed off the yarns they had spun, and gave new spinners advice. Fundamentally, they also shared issues that they had with their wheels - the main problems being the sound levels and the sharp yarn hooks. The wonderful thing is that Maurice was, and is, a very active member of that group and Maurice listened to everybody. Maurice also read my blog post about the Electric Eel Wheel 4 too and took on board all of my comments. Continuing in this spirit of openness and sharing, the Electric Eel Wheel 4 is open-sourced, and if you are technically minded enough to build your own, you can find more information on how to here. The Electric Eel Wheel 5 November 2016 saw the Kickstarter for the Electric Eel Wheel 5. Maurice Ribble wanted to address everyone's issues to make an even smaller, quieter spinning wheel with a more usable sliding hook system. A lot of the people that invested in the first Kickstarter jumped on board to get the improved Eel Wheel and word was slowly spreading about this new affordable electric spinning wheel. With a target of $5,000 to get the project off the ground, the Electric Eel Wheel 5 raised over $90,000 on Kickstarter - which is pretty incredible when you consider that this is a niche product that very few people have seen in person. There is no doubt that the Electric Eel Wheel 5 and its later updates are a significant improvement on the Electric Eel Wheel 4 and its predecessors. The sliding hook system on the 5 caused a lot less frustration (once the initial issues had been resolved) and the sound levels were much improved. Here is a little video showing the 4 and 5 side by side just to get an idea of the difference in volume. You can hear that the 5 has thankfully lost that annoying high-pitched whine that irritated most people. The Electric Eel Wheel 4 noise levels measured about 68 decibels, but the Electric Eel Wheel 5 measures a much more bearable 59 decibels. (For reference, 70 decibels is twice as loud as 60 decibels.) My family are all quite sensitive to noise and so I purposely wouldn't use the Electric Eel Wheel 4 when others were in the room, as I knew the noise would be too loud for anyone to watch the television at a comfortable level. I am however happy to use my Electric Eel Wheel 5 with others in the room - albeit at a slightly lower speed than when I'm on my own. I should probably point out that the first Electric Eel Wheel 5 came with a plastic flyer spindle and sliding hooks. Quite a few spinners (myself included) started to see a wearing down of the plastic where the spun yarn was running over the plastic and so Maurice sent out replacement aluminium flyer spindles and sliding hooks to anyone affected. The Electric Eel Wheel 5.1 Maurice is constantly working on new ideas and asking members of the Ravelry forum what they want in an electric spinning wheel, whilst listening to the problems and issues that arise. It's a very unique and open business model and it's almost like later models of the Electric Eel Wheel have been designed by Maurice, but with Ravelry members as his design consultants. Most companies are incredibly secretive about new ideas and inventions, but Maurice will happily risk sharing designs and ideas that he has for future models of the Electric Eel Wheel, knowing that feedback from Ravelry members has helped the Electric Eel Wheel become the little gem it is today. I never actually got around to writing a review for the Electric Eel Wheel 5, as Maurice had brought out the 5.1 very soon after everyone received their updated aluminium flyer rods and hooks. The 5.1 had a coat of varnish on it - so it looked much more finished than his previous wheels - I did have a problem with wood chipping off both of my wheels, so this definitely takes the design up a notch. It also felt more finished and professional as the underneath was enclosed by a detachable base. Probably the biggest improvement made for the 5.1 was that the bobbins had bearings at either end - making them quieter than the Bobbins Up bobbins that shipped with the 5.0 The Electric Eel Wheel Mini Image from Kickstarter, November 2017 In November 2017, Maurice Ribble launched a Kickstarter for a new kind of Electric Eel Wheel - The Electric Eel Wheel Mini. It was one of his most ambitious spinning projects yet as he challenged himself to make the smallest, most affordable electric spinning wheel ever. Some would say that he'd already done this with the Electric Eel Wheels 3 - 5 but Maurice wanted to make a wheel that was even more affordable, to encourage many more people to try spinning for the first time. The Electric Eel Wheel Mini was sold on Kickstarter for an amazing, $50. Unsurprisingly, over 1000 people backed it. Maurice described it as a new category of spinning wheel to help bridge the gap between drop spindle and spinning wheel - the price being far closer to that of a drop spindle. Inevitably, with such a low price tag came compromises - it was quite noisy and it was so light it needed to be strapped down to stop it from vibrating too much. Changing direction to ply was also slightly awkward, but it was still an excellent introduction to spinning for a lot of people - many of whom went on to upgrade to the larger model once they were confident that they enjoyed spinning. The Electric Eel Wheel 5.2 Image from Dreaming Robots In November 2017 the Electric Eel Wheel 5.2 was released. This went up for sale on the Dreaming Robots site. Once word went out that they were for sale, 100 wheels sold out in less than a day. I love the fact that it retailed at $260, which is $30 less than the Electric Eel Wheel 3 sold for, way back in 2013. It just shows that being able to buy materials in bulk and mass-produce many elements of the wheel has enabled Maurice to pass these savings onto his customers. One of the most notable differences was the plastic flyer wheel. At the time I was very torn on the decision to use plastic for the flyer. I much preferred the look of the wood, but I appreciated that plastic helps to keep the price down when you are working in large quantities - also, the thin wood of previous flyers could warp, which would add to the noise levels and the vibration of the wheel itself. The frame had bearings built into the front and back for the flyer spindle to sit in to help quieten the wheel further. The back panel hinged downwards to make it easier to change the bobbins. I loved these design features and you can see that Maurice was increasing his focus on improving the quality feel of the wheel significantly, while still keeping it at a price that was affordable for a large number of spinners. Image from Dreaming Robots site The spindle was also made from one piece of solid steel - the earlier flyer spindles were made from two pieces of aluminium screwed together and some people found (myself included) that the rods weren't completely straight - which added to the wobble of the wheel. (Mine would go for a little walk when I used the aluminium spindle at high speeds.) Making it from one piece of steel lengthened the life of the spindle and reduced the chance of having a 'wobbly wheel'. Quite a few people on the Ravelry forum requested a faster wheel so that they could ply faster and spin shorter fibres more easily. The 5.2 spun at a maximum of 1400 rpms, which is 40% faster than the previous model. The sliding hooks also changed, making them significantly easier to move than the ones on the 5.1. I must say though, I was a little uneasy about how they looked, but aesthetics are probably a little more important to me than most. There is a regular discussion on the Electric Eel Wheel Ravelry forum on the aesthetics of the Eel and how important keeping the price down is, compared to how the wheel looks, and the functionality of the wheel. Personally, I would rather pay a little more for an attractive, quiet wheel, but opinion is very much split on this issue. Making the Electric Eel Wheel as affordable and as enjoyable to use as possible is at the forefront of Maurice's design concept and I cannot fault him for that. The Electric Eel Wheel Nano After the success of the Electric Eel Wheel Mini, Maurice took the feedback he received from his tiny wheel and made a radical decision - to design the new updated version completely out of plastic. As it was a complete redesign, and even smaller than the Mini, this tiny spinning wheel got a name all of its own - the Nano. At first, I think quite a few people were quite uneasy at the thought of having a completely plastic spinning wheel, but as images and footage of the wheel began to come out, people started to come around to the concept of a tiny plastic spinning wheel. The primary reason for making the Electric Eel Wheel Nano was to make an affordable, yet easy-to-use electric spinning wheel. By using modern, injection moulding techniques, it's much easier and cheaper to make a thousand wheels out of plastic, than it is out of wood. Also, by making the frame out of plastic rather than several pieces of wood, there are far fewer variables - making for a quieter wheel with fewer vibrations. Image from Kickstarter, November 2018 The Kickstarter for the Electric Eel Wheel Nano launched on the 15th of November 2018 and it reached its target in less than an hour. By the end of the campaign, there were 4,351 backers pledging $498,671 in total. It successfully exceeded its goal by 3,324%. Due to many people bulk buying, the total number of Electric Eel Wheel Nanos sold was 5,381! That's some achievement and had a massive impact on the number of people learning to spin in 2019. The Nano has a much more open design than any of the previous Electric Eel Wheels, allowing you to see how much yarn is on the bobbin very easily. It's also significantly quieter than the previous Mini and quieter than the 5.0. Changing direction is done with the flick of a switch, which is a real improvement on the previous Mini. The basic Kickstarter package was just $60. I'm in the UK and so with shipping and tax, this would have cost me a total of £80. Even for an entry-level spinning wheel, that is incredible! The Electric Eel Wheel Nano 1.1 Image from the Dreaming Robots Website In the Spring of 2020, Maurice brought out an updated version of the Kickstarter Nano. This version had an improved motor, the yarn guides were a little more user-friendly and the motor pulley rod was changed to prevent slipping. It retailed at just $110 and was by far the cheapest spinning wheel around. The Nano 1.1 has a bobbin capacity of around 55g and a maximum speed of 1000 rpm. The Electric Eel Wheel 6 Following the success of the Electric Eel Wheel Nano, there was a real demand from Nano owners for a full-sized, production version, with a faster motor and a foot pedal to turn it on and off. The Nano was built with affordability at the heart of its design. With a bigger budget and fewer price constraints, Maurice was able to design the Electric Eel Wheel 6 to be faster, quieter, and with a greater capacity than any of his earlier wheels. The Electric Eel Wheel 6 has a bobbin capacity of around 225g and a maximum speed of 1800rpm. The Kickstarter for the Electric Eel Wheel 6 launched in May 2020, with a goal of $30,000. The Kickstarter campaign eventually raised well over $445,000 and meant that over 1800 people could afford to buy themselves a production-level e-spinner. The original Kickstarter Electric Eel Wheel 6 sold for $199 and is now for sale on the Dreaming Robots website for $289.* (*Affiliate links - if you click through and make a purchase, I will receive a small percentage of the purchase price at no additional cost to you. Any income from my blog goes a small way toward funding future blog posts.) When I received my Kickstarter Electric Eel Wheels 4 and 5, I made videos to demonstrate their volumes. I made the first video because I felt that the EEW4 was uncomfortably loud and the second because I was pleased with the improvements that Maurice had made to the volume of the wheel. When I received my Electric Eel wheel 6 it seemed only fitting to make a video to demonstrate the further improvements Maurice has made to the Eel's volume, and to show how much quieter it is than the previous models - Unfortunately, I've modified my Electric Eel Wheel 5 to use bearings so I can't do a true side-by-side comparison but hopefully, this video demonstrates the difference having bearings in the flyer and bobbins, using a brushless motor and making it out of injection moulded plastic instead of laser cut plywood makes. In simple terms, the Kickstarter Electric Eel Wheels have halved in volume with each iteration. The Electric Eel Wheel Nano 2.0 Image from the Dreaming Robots Website In the spring of 2022, Maurice Ribble launched the Kickstarter for the Electric Eel Wheel Nano 2.0 and this is the Nano model that is available to buy today.* It launched on Kickstarter for $95 and now retails on the Dreaming Robots website for $125. With a Kickstarter goal of $20,000, and assisted by 3,402 backers, Maurice's campaign finally raised a total of $385,896. The Nano 2.0 now uses 5v instead of 9v and is powered by a USB cord making it even more portable than the previous model. (It can be powered by most pocket-sized phone charging batteries or plugged into the USB phone socket in your car or laptop.) The motor is 10% faster than the previous Nano 1.1 and the bobbins now screw together securely instead of being friction-fitted. (The original bobbin ends could occasionally pop off when the bobbin was full...) The plastic yarn guides move more smoothly than the earlier wire yarn guides and the flyer is moulded as one piece instead of having the arms screw in separately making them less likely to become unbalanced. The Competition You only have to look at the number of new Electric Eel Wheel forum members every day on the Ravelry forum and on the Facebook group to see how much talk there is amongst spinners about the Electric Eel Wheel and how information about it is slowly spreading by word of mouth; whether it's amongst spinning friends, or over social media. Everybody loves a bargain and everyone loves to share information about bargains with their friends. Telling everyone that you just spent $1,200 on a new spinning wheel might be considered a little vulgar, but plenty of people were telling the world about the $60 spinning wheel they'd just backed on Kickstarter. The big e-spinner companies still aren't taking the Electric Eel Wheel seriously and continue to make big claims about their own electric spinning wheels - the Ashford site describes their e-spinner as the smallest, lightest, and most versatile electronic spinner ever, and the Hansen website describes their e-spinner as the lightest, most compact, technically advanced e-spinner that is commercially available today. (Incidentally, the Ashford e-spinner weighs 2 kilos, the Hansen weighs 2.2 kilos, and the Electric Eel Wheel 6 weighs 1.4 kilos.) Since I wrote this blog post in 2018 there have been a few more smaller e-spinner companies entering the market but the Electric Eel Wheel is still holding its own as by far the best value-for-money e-spinner on the market. I believe that with the current performance of the Nano 2 and the Electric Eel Wheel 6, the big companies have got some serious competition on their hands, that they can't afford to ignore anymore. --- Future Electric Eel Wheels Maurice Ribble is fundamentally an inventor who found a gap in the market. He's constantly working on new ideas and designs. He compares the design process of the Electric Eel Wheel to mobile phone companies, constantly working on future iterations of the device - improving it and upgrading it so as to maintain interest in the product and to keep the product fresh and innovative. Now that Maurice has cornered the market in affordable e-spinners, he's considering developing a much more high-tech version in the future, to accompany his entry-level-priced e-spinners. One request that is often made on the Ravelry forum is for the Electric Eel Wheel to have some kind of auto-flyer, similar to the WooLee Winder, so that spinners don't have to constantly keep stopping to move the sliding hooks. Maurice is working on his own level winding system for a Pro version of the Electric Eel Wheel and it is very much in development. It will have a built-in graphical screen to help display a menu system and an advanced motorised tension system. Unfortunately, with all of the other fibre-related products that Maurice has planned over the next couple of years, we'll have a while to wait and see what other pro features will be on this new wheel... If you've found this post interesting or useful, please pin this image to Pinterest. It makes a big difference to me and helps other spinners find it too. At this point, I normally suggest similar fibre-related blog posts, however, my list of spinning content is becoming a little unmanageable... If you'd like to read more blog posts about spinning and fibre preparation, please take a look at this page here where you will find links to all of my spinning and fibre articles. Thank you for reading, and happy spinning! --- Related Posts Electric Eel Wheel Nano Orifice Reducer with a built-in Twist Keeper and Other Modifications Beta Testing the Electric Eel Wheel Yarn Counter Using the Electric Eel Wheel Yarn counter to sample yarn gauges and ply the yarn I want Testing the LWS Autowinder for the Electric Eel Wheel 6 Free Handspun Yarn Labels Spinning Dog Hair DIY Hackle DIY Mini Wool Combs 3D Printed Modular Lazy Kate Yarn gauge reference tool for hand spinners Spinning Supercoil Yarn Using Waste Fibres ---------- Please be sweet and share the love. Leave a comment, subscribe to my YouTube channel, like my Facebook page for regular updates or follow me on Pinterest, Bloglovin' or Instagram

40.00 in fibers or accessories....anything in the store! :] Send me a message with your bonus choices Crystal Creek Fibers is Your Authorized Dealer! The Kromski Symphony.... Lots of finely tuned wood and plenty of features! Just right for the home or reenactment. Double treadle makes it super comfy to use. Scotch drive for beginners or double drive for the advanced spinner,it also includes two whorls.European alder and birch woods make this a super sturdy wheel. Dont know which wheel is right for you or just need more information? Convo me and chat about your fiber needs. :] The Symphony is made for a life time of spinning. All Kromski bobbins are inter changable, and hold 50 % more yarn than other wheels [see picture] FREE 40.00 shopping spree,get fibers or extra Kromski equipment here at my Etsy site! Excludes #5 and #30 wool bumps. Convo me for your freebies :] Please dont buy them Here what your wheel comes with; Wheel diameter 24 inches Orifice height 27 inch- 3/8 inch 3 bobbins Wooden and metal spinning hook [see photo] Arch style tensioned lazy kate [See photo] Bottle of spinning wheel oil [see photo] Ratios 7.5 10 16 and 20 to 1 two whorls [see photos] Weight 15 pounds. Free online spinning instruction Metal and wood wheel hook This wheel is unassembled but comes with complete directions and is very easy to assemble. This Symphony comes with a walnut finish ASK about Spinning Wheel layaway plan Need extra Kromski parts or Whorls? Crystal Creek Fibers has them! Please feel free to ask an questions Crystal Creek Fibers is a Kromski dealer so I can get you anything you need. Out of USA shipping: Free shipping in the Continental USA Alaska and Hawaii have shipping charges so please ask Your freebies will cost extra shipping unless they will fit in the box with the wheel. Return policy: Wheel and freebies must be unused ,all original packing material,box,,in new and unused shape.20% restocking fee,and buyer is responsible for return insured shipping. 15 day return policy from the date you receive it.You must convo me to start a return on the wheel.You will be refunded via the method you have paid when wheel is returned and examined.This only takes a short time.Please feel free to ask questions. Thanks and Enjoy!

Hoe verander je de trapnaaimachine van je grootmoeder in een geweldig erfstuk-spinnewiel? Met verrassend gemak, is het antwoord! Dit is een complete en zeer gedetailleerde reeks plannen die laten zien hoe je een spinnewielkop kunt bouwen die garen van elk formaat kan hanteren en deze aan de tafel van de trapnaaimachine kan bevestigen, zonder het oorspronkelijke uiterlijk van de trapmachine te vernietigen. Populair gemaakt door de First Nations-bevolking van de Cowichan, in het zuiden van British Columbia, maakt het 'Indian Head'-spinnewiel, zoals het bekend is geworden, gebruik van de kracht van een oud gietijzeren naaimachinepedaal. Voor zover ik weet zijn deze machines nooit commercieel geproduceerd en zijn de tientallen, misschien zelfs honderden op het pedaal gemonteerde Indian Head-spinnewielen allemaal thuis gebouwd... en ze zijn allemaal uniek! Nadat ik een flink aantal van deze machines was tegengekomen en gebruikt, was het duidelijk dat ze allemaal enigszins verschillend waren en dat ze allemaal goed werkten. Zelfs de minder bekwame vakmensen slaagden erin een functioneel spinnewiel te produceren. Het enige wat nog ontbrak was een duidelijke reeks plannen waarmee iedereen zijn eigen plannen kon maken. Dat gat is nu hier opgevuld. Het zelfbouw-spinnewielpakket bevat maar liefst negenentwintig gedetailleerde diagrammen, plus veel close-upfoto's, evenals een gedetailleerde beschrijving van de verschillende onderdelen en hun attributen. Dit spinnewiel is perfect geschikt voor het maken van zware/dikke garens en vooral kunstgarens, die vaak klonterig, hobbelig, ongelijkmatig en vaak te groot zijn om door de smalle openingen van de meeste commercieel geproduceerde spinnewielen te passen. Het levert uiteraard elk gewenst garengewicht op, maar als je je specialiseert in fijne garens, kan het gietijzeren vliegwiel te krachtig zijn voor zulk delicaat werk. Deze gedetailleerde plannen laten zien hoe u uw eigen erfstuk-spinnewiel kunt bouwen Met deze plannen kun je niet alleen je eigen spinnewiel bouwen; een die door de generaties heen zal worden doorgegeven en in de komende eeuwen als mooi zal worden beschouwd, maar elke cent die je aan deze plannen uitgeeft, gaat rechtstreeks naar de dieren in The Llama Sanctuary. De meeste onderdelen van het spinnewiel kunnen met eenvoudig handgereedschap worden geconstrueerd. Voor de spoel en de opening is een draaibank nodig, maar dat betekent niet dat je er een moet hebben of moet weten hoe je er een moet gebruiken! Als je rondvraagt, zul je versteld staan hoeveel mensen een draaibank in de garage hebben staan en je graag willen helpen! Er is maar één ding dat je tegenhoudt om erin te springen en je eigen ding te bouwen - en dat is angst! Angst dat je niet goed genoeg bent om het te bouwen of bang dat je niet weet hoe. Met het internet binnen handbereik zijn er duizenden mensen die graag anderen helpen hun doelen te bereiken. We leven in het informatietijdperk, maar dat betekent niet dat we niet nog steeds handmatig creatief kunnen zijn. ...en als je vragen hebt over de build, stuur me dan een e-mail.

The spinning wheel is an ancient invention that turns plant and animal fibers into thread or yarn, which are then woven into cloth on a loom.

Ashford Sliding Hook Flyer and Bobbin for Joy Spinning Wheel Delivery 1 to 2 weeks A sliding hook flyer kit including 1 bobbin is now available as a retro kit for all existing Joy Spinning Wheels. Fill the bobbins evenly with the squeeze-and-slide stainless steel hooks.Graphite fibreglass arms make these flyers light and strong. New sliding hook flyer bobbins hold up to 30% more yarn. Due to the larger bobbins, the treadle may not fold completely with these bobbins stored in previous models.  Specification: Finish: Lacquered Orifice: 10 mm (⅜") Included Accessories: - 1 sliding hook flyer bobbin lacquered - nylon brake band- 2 tension springs with 1 closed cup hook- replacement top shaft in case your new flyer does not thread easily or fully into the current top shaft (for older joy wheels) Compatibility: - Joy